The DBQ Project Method™
The DBQ Project 6-Step Method underpins the design of all our DBQs and Mini-Qs. Each step builds on students’ curiosity and increases motivation and confidence to answer a compelling, authentic question.
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Step 1: The Hook ExerciseEngages students and orients them to the question. |
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Step 2: The Background EssayFurther orients students to the question and provides essential context that helps make sense of the documents. |
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Step 3: Understanding the Question andPre-bucketingHelps students plan so they can target their investigation of the documents. Clarifying the question motivates students to start reading their sources to find answers. |
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Step 4: Analyzing the DocumentsIt’s like you’re a detective! The documents provide clues and evidence students need to support their thesis or claim. They provide the knowledge and information students need to answer the question. |
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Step 5: Bucketing, Chickenfoot & Thrash-outHelps students get organized. Buckets become containers for evidence that students use to categorize or group evidence from the documents. Students prepare to write by debating or “thrashing-out” their answer to the question. Students practice using evidence from the documents to support and verbally validate their claims. They use what they learn to outline their essays. |
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Step 6: Writing the EssayStudents write multi-paragraph, evidence-based essays using their documents, buckets, and outlines to support and explain their reasoning. |
The DBQ Project Method provides a framework of best practices that guides teachers and students to read smart, think straight, and write clearly.
How do you teach a DBQ?
It is much easier to assign a DBQ than to teach one. Using document-based questions as a method of instruction rather than just an exam is at the heart of DBQ’s philosophy.
To master high-level skills, students need high-level instruction.
“The Mini-Qs for World History are perfect for developing CCSS primary source reading skills and I really appreciate how well they fit into my curriculum as seminar discussions as well as essays. My students became very comfortable with primary documents after using the mini-q structure over the course of a semester and I was able to give them larger readings that they may not have had the ability to do previously.”
– Alicia Hale, Seattle Public Schools
